


and he couldn't scream (day 14: breathe)

by ghostkids



Series: dannymay 2020 prompts [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: (for everyone else), (implied) - Freeform, (it's implied), (sort of), Blood, DannyMay (Danny Phantom), DannyMay 2020 (Danny Phantom), Day 14: Breathe, Gen, Gore, Mentions of surgery, Needles, Panic, Panic Attack, Polyamory, Serious Injuries, Surgery, Surgery On Someone Who Is Awake, Tucker Foley Is Brave (Danny Phantom), aka Danny, aka i'm p sure they should not be stitching up a fully conscious person, bc he is Stubborn, but also It's Questionable, but they think he's a ghost so, except it's ectoplasm, for them, injection of questionable substances, not really questionable?, questionable medical practices, serious injury, so like
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:34:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24258226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ghostkids/pseuds/ghostkids
Summary: he doesn't even have the breath to scream.
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Sam Manson, Danny Fenton & Sam Manson & Tucker Foley, Danny Fenton & Tucker Foley, Danny Fenton/Tucker Foley/Sam Manson
Series: dannymay 2020 prompts [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748905
Comments: 5
Kudos: 143





	and he couldn't scream (day 14: breathe)

**Author's Note:**

> i did not really proofread this, so i have to go back and fix any possible errors later. this work is part of the same universe as the stories for days 1 and 9, and is danny's pov for day 11, which is not posted yet but is probably going to be next on the list.

he can't breathe. they know, they know, they know, they all know, they’re going to catch him, they're going to kill him. again. can he even die? when his heart stuttered back to life not once, not twice, but three times on the operating table after the accident, no one ever questioned his survival. but he was human then, fully human, to their eyes at least. he'd been in an accident, but he was human. only human.

he never thought he would find himself back there again. he never thought he would find himself back at the same hospital where he died three times, and almost died countless more. he remembers flashes, memory tinged with pain. and all he remembers is flashes, but that’s enough.

they didn't let sam or tucker in. they both tried, they did, even though tucker would rather do anything else without being sick himself, even though they all knew that their plan wouldn’t work anyway. sam and tucker have _his_ supplies, the rest of his emergency ectoplasm, his─

they didn't let sam and tucker in.

they didn't let sam or tucker in, so danny fights to stay awake, fights to keep himself still as the doctors stitch him back together, every last piece of him. he fights back the screams of pain as they try to figure out how to put his body back together. his blood starts to run red but he hasn’t lost his form yet. he tries to even his breathing; he can’t make anything worse, can’t let them know how human he really is.

they each pressed a warm kiss to his forehead, to the cold sweat and the lime tang of ectoplasm staining his hairline. he carries that warmth with him as the medical staff wheel him into the room, that warmth still blurry and only half-conscious. he mumbles _something_ to them, " _love you_ " maybe or " _see you soon_ " or an odd mix of both, and he's still mumbling through the pain as they start prepping him for emergency surgery.

 _they don’t know they don’t know they don’t know they don’t_ -

he almost changes back. he almost changes back, in the waiting room full of waiting eyes. sam gives him the emergency ectoplasm, eyes desperate behind the mask she's rigged hastily out of odds and ends. tuck could never stand needles, and still can't, but he helps steady danny's arm for sam, and he can feel their love in the force of each action. he carries that love with him as the doctors start stitching. he carries their love through the pain, uses the warmth as his anchor.

he misses the moment his blood first changes, but he doesn't miss the shock that spreads through the room when the first nurse notices. phantom bleeds red. phantom bleeds red and they have his blood on their gloves and their tools from where they patched him up on the operating table. phantom bleeds red and they have to know he’s too human. too human to be all ghost. too ghost to be all human.

he’s all stitched up. he could drop ghost mode. but he isn’t going anywhere. he knows that sam and tucker would beg him to give in. his secret isn’t quite worth this. but they’re not here, and he holds on, just a little longer. he’s burning the energy his body needs; he needs to heal, and fast, and human form won’t give him that. he pays the price of not giving in. his time is almost up and his form is fading fast.

and he can’t breathe; his core flashes like a dying star. his last hope slips through his fingers like smoke. he wrenches the light back inside himself, again and again, as the doctors hurry around him. there's shouting, more shouting, and someone saying, "something's wrong!" but he can't respond, can't tell them he's fine.

_he doesn’t even have the breath to scream._

then, silence, as he _pushes_ , hard, on his core. the star of his core flickers, fades back into nothing, and phantom stares up at the doctors through the blinding lights of the operating table, gasping for breath.

(still phantom, somehow. but he knows it's only a matter of time.)


End file.
